


Where It Isn't Any More

by thephilosophersapprentice



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Chronic Pain, Disability, Ed can't catch a break, Ed is a prickly boy, Edward Elric is disabled, Greed says he doesn't care but actually cares a lot, Heinkel and Darius and their two potty-mouthed disaster sons, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-24 01:37:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17695136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thephilosophersapprentice/pseuds/thephilosophersapprentice
Summary: While on the run before the Promised Day, Edward has a growth spurt. Unfortunately, this means his stumps flare up as well. Greed is no help, but Heinkel and Darius are.





	Where It Isn't Any More

“Wakey wakey, dumbass,” Greed announced, prodding the unresponsive bundle of blankets and groundsheet. “Lotta ground to cover today and you’re the last one up.”

The entire pile of blankets rolled over. “Dumbass yourself,” Edward snarled. It sounded much more bitter than normal. “Aw, _hell_.” And _that_ sounded like it had been wrenched out of him with a thumbscrew.

“What’s going on?” Greed asked.

“Oh, nothing, I just can’t move,” Edward growled.

“What?”

“You… _heard_ … me.” Edward clutched at his right shoulder with a groan.

“You mean you really can’t move?”

Edward twisted around and threw up on the ground beside him. Greed stumbled backward. “Okay, okay!”

“Please just don’t talk to me,” Edward spat out, each word an effort.

“But seriously. Isn’t there something I can do?”

“We’re in the middle of the damn woods, in case you hadn’t noticed,” Edward snapped. “Normally I’d suggest things like heat, preferably in the form of a bath, and valerian tea, but I’m hurting too much to even think of using alchemy so that’s pretty much impossible right now. Now please stop talking to me until I stop feeling like my spine is trying to tear itself out of my body.”

Greed kicked dirt over the vomit—mostly bile, since Edward hadn’t eaten much the night before—hell, had Edward felt this coming? The kid had been short and snappish, even for him. Idiot.

 _Stop picking on him,_ Ling Yao ordered. The nerve of the brat, bossing him around— _You did notice that Edward is down two limbs, didn’t you? Maybe it hasn’t settled in yet, but there are repercussions for humans who are missing an arm and a leg._

“Greeling, is something wrong?” Darius made his way toward them. Damn kid, getting them all using that stupid nickname.

“ _Leave me alone!_ ” Edward roared. He threw up again.

“He says his spine is trying to rip itself out of his body,” Greed relayed.

Darius winced. “Sounds like a particularly bad case of growing pains with his stumps acting up on top of it.”

“Can you not discuss me?! I’m right here!”

Darius sat down next to the blanket roll on the side Edward hadn’t thrown up on. “It doesn’t matter to me when we reach Resembool. This is more important. Let’s stoke up the fire. I’ll go get Heinkel. You—” he pointed to Greed—“don’t make him any more miserable if you can help it.”

“Wow, that’s not very nice,” Greed protested.

“ _You’re_ not very nice,” Edward snapped.

“Watch it, half-pint.”

“Thanks for _freaking_ reminding me—”

“You two. Quit it,” Darius growled. “We’ll be back soon. Make sure he stays hydrated and doesn’t choke if he throws up again.”

“Gross,” Edward huffed.

Greed regarded the bundle of shivering indignation for a moment before prodding Edward gently with his foot. He was rewarded with a muffled “Go to hell” mumbled into the dirt. Greed shrugged and walked off.

He came back five minutes later with a tin cup full of fresh water. “Here.”

Edward hadn’t moved. “Please just go away.”

What now?

Greed stared at the teenager for a long moment. He set the mug on the ground and cautiously, as if Edward was a land mine, lifted him into a sitting position. The kid gave a muffled shriek as the motion jarred his automail arm, but Greed was without mercy. He propped Edward up and helped him drink. Edward gulped down the water readily enough, then crumpled into himself again. Greed put the human kid down and went to go get firewood.

 _Well, look at that,_ Ling said saucily. _You actually care about him._

_Shut up._

* * *

 

The water was boiling merrily over the fire when Heinkel and Darius got back. Darius held out a few towels. “Here. Get these damp with water—not too hot, though, we don’t want to make things worse by burning him.” Heinkel took over with the towels, while Darius poured boiling water into a bowl and added dried valerian root from a small bag. Greed cautiously disentangled Edward from his mass of blankets, leaving the groundsheet between him and the dirt. Heinkel carefully stripped Edward down and wrapped the hot, damp towels around his shoulder and thigh. He then wrapped the rest of Edward in the blankets.

 _Is this what it means to be human?_ Greed wondered. _To hurt?_

 _Maybe it’s because we hurt that we appreciate things so much more_ , Ling said philosophically. _Because we have so little, we are grateful for what we do have._

 _I don’t want to know pain,_ Greed said.

_You want him not to hurt._

Greed found he couldn’t disagree. Not without lying.

* * *

 

After drinking the tea, Edward finally slipped into sleep.

“Poor kid,” Darius said.

“That’s what life does,” Heinkel said, sounding resigned. “It takes.”

“When did I start caring about the dumb brat?” Darius grumbled. “How does he work up into your heart when he’s so… _difficult_?”

“I don’t know. It’s weird to think how much he needs us.”

“Especially when he acts like he doesn’t,” Greed agreed.

“Another game of checkers?” Heinkel asked.


End file.
